Welcome to Real Debate Wisconsin (RDW). This is primarily a conservative blog but we always welcome input from all points of view. Things get heated upon occasion but we ask that our readers do their best to keep things civil and respect all participants. We always welcome guest posts, so if there is something you would like to share feel free to email me at fkd1015 at yahoo dot com.

March 1, 2012

A shocking idea out of the UK:This is where acceptance of killing early humans in the womb can lead, despite some pro-abortion people's denial.

Come to think of it, you could say that children of all ages are only "potential persons," since they're not yet fully developed and still dependent. They are not self-aware enough to "attribute to (their) own existence some (at least) basic value such that being deprived of this existence represents a loss to (them).” And of course, disabled and the elderly could also lose actual personhood if their function is diminished...

When John Lehman was a State Senator there was a small group that tried to start an effort to recall him due to his big spending irresponsible ways.

I was approached and asked to support that effort, I declined.

You see when Lehman ran for senate he said that if you wanted a big government advocate and a tax increaser he was your guy.

In short he did what he said he was going to do and did it.That is not cause for a recall.

Unfortunately John Lehman did not take as principled a stance in the current recall effort.Not only did he sign the recall petition against Senator Wanggaard he is now running against him.

In a letter to the Journal Times today Lehman criticized corporate money as a big special interest.Funny how the hypocrite Lehman will put out his hand to accept the special interest money of the unions that will back his unethical campaign.

We lost 150,000 jobs on Lehman’s watch, not surprising when senators as anti-business as him ruled the Wisconsin Senate.

Now that Wanggaard and Walker are turning Wisconsin around and have tackled the budget mess that Lehman ignored and made worse John Lehman thinks he deserves his old job back.

If for some reason the unthinkable happens and John Lehman does become the Senator from the 21st again, I will lead the recall effort against him.After all he has set the precedent.

February 29, 2012

Let's travel back in time a little over a year.... Kenosha Unified Schools rushed to approve a new teacher contract with their public teachers union, they purposely chose to not wait to see what Act 10 could do for them in having tools to become fiscally responsible. Kenosha School Board members knowing that the Walker administration would be making changes to the rules concerning pension contributions, health care contributions and collective bargaining privileges (NOT RIGHTS) plunged headlong into the deep end of the pool to eagerly placate the teachers union by keeping their overly generous pay and benefits programs in place for an additional couple more years. They did not care to calculate the long range impact to their budget. They figured they could later be able to blame cuts to their system on the "Evil Governor Walker". They didn't care one bit about the 200+ people they had to layoff last year.

Now back to Feb . 28, 2012 --- Kenosha School Board proposes a new "Transformational Education" plan. Under the sham of providing a new improved education for the Kenosha students, they are once again using Smoke 'N Mirrors to try to avoid the truth. They now have a huge shortfall in $'s for education, so they had to make cuts in people -- around 300+!! Cuts they will try to blame on Walker, even though the cuts are 100% of their own doing because they are in bed with the Unionistas in Kenosha. So much for the Kenosha School Board caring about employment in their town.

Any school district in our state that waited for Act 10, or as part of new contract negotiations got the same concessions from their teacher union as are part of Act 10, are in pretty good shape and most did not have to make huge people cuts at the expense of the quality of education for their students. In fact many made NO LAYOFFS at all by using the benefits of the ACT 10 legislation. News flash for Kenosha School Board -- ACT 10 IS WORKING - too bad you choose to not take part in it. You have made you bed, now live with it. Too bad for the students of Kenosha, you are pawns stuck in the middle of a power struggle between the Insane Unionistas and those who understand that sensible fiscal responsibility is best for the entire state and education.

The voters of Kenosha should be outraged by the actions of their elected school board and it would be wise to make certain they have a change in leadership as soon as they can elect different people to the school board.

Translated.... And they want us to be more like Europe... Trains because, well just because.

A saavy reader/contributor sent this to me this morning... I guess he gave up posting his own stuff for lent... Key words, completely useless and not needed!

Italy: Brief history of the NO TAV movement

NO TAV (No to the High Speed Train) is a movement based in the Susa Valley in Piedmont that opposes the creation of the new high speed railway line between Turin and Lyon in France. This line is part of a EU project which plans to connect Lyon to Budapest and then onto Ukraine.

Similar protest movements were active in the early 90s in Florence, Bologna and Rome, but their militancy and the brutal repression that this triggered in the Susa Valley has made the Piedmontese movement the most talked about.

The simple principle behind the movement is that a new high speed railway line in the Valley is completely useless and not needed, its only purpose being the profit of the many private companies that have shares in it. The NO TAV think that the current railway line between Piedmont and France is more than sufficient, considering that traffic in the area has never been incredibly high. More importantly, the construction of the line would utterly and irreversibly destroy a huge part of the Susa Valley, causing not only an environmental but also an economic and social disaster, with businesses closing down and villages being completely disfigured or disappearing.

High speed railway lines in Italy are considered to be of “strategic interest”, which translated from political bullshit language means that the law allows this type of works WITHOUT consulting the local population and institutions whatsoever. At a time of economic collapse such as Italy is going through, the works require billions of Italian taxpayers’ money, at the expense of primary services like education and health. It would mainly be construction and other private companies profiting from it, but when finished and in use, the low demand for the line would end up making it a loss-making burden on the taxpayers. Like in Rossport, Ireland, the locals’ concerns and proposals are being completely ignored in the name of the only Modern God: money.

The NO TAV came up with their own plan for the area which would include:
- changing the production and distribution processes to decrease transport of people and goods, especially on long distances
- supporting local sustainable trades instead of big industries
- creating or improving local means of sustainable and green transport for workers and students
- supporting and incrementing the use of the already existing local railway line